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Sunday, November 22, 1987

Divers Bringing Light To Cave's Dark Mystery

A team of the world's foremost cave divers are venturing into the granddaddy of Florida's underwater caves, discovering clues about Florida's geologic evolution and testing cutting-edge exploration technology.

Halfway through an 11-week expedition at the Wakulla Springs cave in North Florida, the divers are in the thick of an adventure that leaps beyond any of the Tarzan movies filmed here a half-century ago.

For decades Wakulla has been a mystery, but with each exploratory dive a few of the cave's secrets are beginning to surface.

Until last month, divers thought the cave stretched out like a gargantuan throat from its underwater mouth -- a long, watery tunnel. After several weeks of penetrating a half-mile beyond the cave's mouth, divers have found a vast limestone labyrinth that forks off in at least three directions. Each prong of the fork has offshoots heading into even more uncharted territory.''We are not so bold as to say that when we leave here we will have finished Wakulla Springs. It's turned out to be a much, much more massive system than we ever expected,'' said expedition leader Bill Stone of Washington. ''That's the allure of the whole cave system -- the surprise of discovery.''

Wakulla Springs, one of the nation's largest, gushes at an average of 200,000 gallons per minute and has hit a peak of 600,000 gallons per minute. It feeds the Wakulla River where it begins at the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park 13 miles south of Tallahassee. Until now, no diver had set fin in the cave since the 1950s. The international team of 14 divers has ventured twice as far and 100 feet deeper than divers went in the '50s. They are likely to top those figures before the dive ends in mid-December.

Around the normally peaceful spring can be heard the throbbing sound of air compressors filling divers' tanks. By the expedition's end, divers will have gone through enough bottles of breathable gas to fill a tractor-trailer. Cluttering the bank are tanks, diving suits and torpedo-shaped scooters the divers use to zip around underwater.

Probing nearly a half-mile into the cave, divers are bringing back information that state agencies can use to plan development, protect drinking water supplies and piece together the puzzle of Florida's geologic past.

Divers are collecting soil samples that could reveal when the cave was formed, which was probably during the ice age. Underwater photographers are documenting mastodon bones strewn near the cave's mouth, evidence suggesting that the cave might have been above water during the ice age.

They are also trying to collect water samples to learn more about North Florida's underground plumbing, but their bottles keep floating away. Already, though, divers think the cave spews water from several sources.

Like kids with a butterfly net, divers are scooping up blind crayfish that have adapted to life in total darkness. On Thursday they nabbed a 6-inch crayfish, the largest divers have ever seen in Florida.

The entryway to this underwater world is a yawning mouth large enough to stage a Broadway musical. Its imposing opening is 100 feet wide, 70 feet high and 120 feet underwater. Venture past this point into a corridor perhaps 130 feet wide, and welcome to where the sun doesn't shine.

''It's a lot like looking down a dark highway at night with only a single headlight beam,'' said Stone. ''Wherever you're not pointing, it's totally dark.'' Lightbulbs can implode -- burst inward -- under pressure at depths of nearly 300 feet.

The divers, with 140 years of cave-diving experience among them, carry backups for all equipment, along with backups for the backups and backups for those too. Coming out alive is their main goal.

Just as awesome as the cave is the technology needed to explore it. This venture is the cave-diving equivalent of a trip to the moon, requiring equipment that opens up a new realm of scientific diving. The Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society and 25 corporations are sponsoring the pioneering project.

After using the Wakulla expedition to test a six-person ''underwater hotel'' and a high-tech life-support backpack, divers will be ready to tackle what may be the world's deepest cave -- Mexico's Cueva de la Pena Colorada, which plunges at least 4,450 feet into the Earth.

Visible through Wakulla's clear spring water, hovering above the cave mouth, is what the divers call the habitat, the underwater hotel where divers spend hours decompressing after deep dives. The habitat, a yellow domed tent 10 feet wide and 27 feet tall, is emblazoned with an American flag. Its exterior is made from the same fabric as bulletproof vests. Inside it is warm and dry. Divers unzip their suits, lounge in folding chairs and hammocks, read, pick up the phone and order room service.

Sunday, November 22, 1987

Divers Bringing Light To Cave's Dark Mystery

A team of the world's foremost cave divers are venturing into the granddaddy of Florida's underwater caves, discovering clues about Florida's geologic evolution and testing cutting-edge exploration technology.

Halfway through an 11-week expedition at the Wakulla Springs cave in North Florida, the divers are in the thick of an adventure that leaps beyond any of the Tarzan movies filmed here a half-century ago.

For decades Wakulla has been a mystery, but with each exploratory dive a few of the cave's secrets are beginning to surface.

Until last month, divers thought the cave stretched out like a gargantuan throat from its underwater mouth -- a long, watery tunnel. After several weeks of penetrating a half-mile beyond the cave's mouth, divers have found a vast limestone labyrinth that forks off in at least three directions. Each prong of the fork has offshoots heading into even more uncharted territory.''We are not so bold as to say that when we leave here we will have finished Wakulla Springs. It's turned out to be a much, much more massive system than we ever expected,'' said expedition leader Bill Stone of Washington. ''That's the allure of the whole cave system -- the surprise of discovery.''

Wakulla Springs, one of the nation's largest, gushes at an average of 200,000 gallons per minute and has hit a peak of 600,000 gallons per minute. It feeds the Wakulla River where it begins at the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park 13 miles south of Tallahassee. Until now, no diver had set fin in the cave since the 1950s. The international team of 14 divers has ventured twice as far and 100 feet deeper than divers went in the '50s. They are likely to top those figures before the dive ends in mid-December.

Around the normally peaceful spring can be heard the throbbing sound of air compressors filling divers' tanks. By the expedition's end, divers will have gone through enough bottles of breathable gas to fill a tractor-trailer. Cluttering the bank are tanks, diving suits and torpedo-shaped scooters the divers use to zip around underwater.

Probing nearly a half-mile into the cave, divers are bringing back information that state agencies can use to plan development, protect drinking water supplies and piece together the puzzle of Florida's geologic past.

Divers are collecting soil samples that could reveal when the cave was formed, which was probably during the ice age. Underwater photographers are documenting mastodon bones strewn near the cave's mouth, evidence suggesting that the cave might have been above water during the ice age.

They are also trying to collect water samples to learn more about North Florida's underground plumbing, but their bottles keep floating away. Already, though, divers think the cave spews water from several sources.

Like kids with a butterfly net, divers are scooping up blind crayfish that have adapted to life in total darkness. On Thursday they nabbed a 6-inch crayfish, the largest divers have ever seen in Florida.

The entryway to this underwater world is a yawning mouth large enough to stage a Broadway musical. Its imposing opening is 100 feet wide, 70 feet high and 120 feet underwater. Venture past this point into a corridor perhaps 130 feet wide, and welcome to where the sun doesn't shine.

''It's a lot like looking down a dark highway at night with only a single headlight beam,'' said Stone. ''Wherever you're not pointing, it's totally dark.'' Lightbulbs can implode -- burst inward -- under pressure at depths of nearly 300 feet.

The divers, with 140 years of cave-diving experience among them, carry backups for all equipment, along with backups for the backups and backups for those too. Coming out alive is their main goal.

Just as awesome as the cave is the technology needed to explore it. This venture is the cave-diving equivalent of a trip to the moon, requiring equipment that opens up a new realm of scientific diving. The Explorers Club, the National Geographic Society and 25 corporations are sponsoring the pioneering project.

After using the Wakulla expedition to test a six-person ''underwater hotel'' and a high-tech life-support backpack, divers will be ready to tackle what may be the world's deepest cave -- Mexico's Cueva de la Pena Colorada, which plunges at least 4,450 feet into the Earth.

Visible through Wakulla's clear spring water, hovering above the cave mouth, is what the divers call the habitat, the underwater hotel where divers spend hours decompressing after deep dives. The habitat, a yellow domed tent 10 feet wide and 27 feet tall, is emblazoned with an American flag. Its exterior is made from the same fabric as bulletproof vests. Inside it is warm and dry. Divers unzip their suits, lounge in folding chairs and hammocks, read, pick up the phone and order room service.